cryptsleeper | Catch All

[ She doesn't. But the next day she's awake long enough to take a little solid food. She's groggy enough from painkillers that talking to her is a lost cause, but she can eat and only occasionally refers to Alucard as a beautiful golden sunshine man. As the days go by she becomes more coherent. Her name is Sypha, rather than Plague Lady.

It scares her, being in a strange place in a new country, separated from her people and in pain. Trevor stays with her most of the time, only leaving in the evening briefly on days when things are difficult for Alucard. Sometimes he is in his normal form, often he is moths. But he is there and he weaves.

It's when she's asleep one evening that he comes to sit with Alucard at supper again, laying a few thin cloths on the table. They're finely made but undyed, looking plain enough to anyone who doesn't put an immense amount of effort into studying curtains. ]

I'm- doing bartering.

[Alucard stays in for two days, just to keep an eye on Sypha and because that's as long as he has cleared his calendar for. In those two days, he makes food for Sypha, and they both get a little information out of her. When she rests, he does paperwork and continues to soak his feet while sitting at the kitchen table - an hour in, an hour out. His feet can't become prunes entirely.

Trevor has been helping though. A lot. And it's nice, having that level of trust for someone in his house. In knowing that if a hand brushes over his, there won't be an ounce of harm in it.

He's getting used to it. That's a problem.

Alucard looks up from his last scraps of dinner when the cloths are put on the table. He blinks, then leans forward.]

These are beautiful.

They're for the windows. To keep sound from passing through them, if they're closed. I thought you'd need to be able to hear the door, though.

[ He folds the cloths, leaving them there. ]

Is that payment enough?

---A good thought.

[He smiles at Trevor. It's a little more confident. A lot more grateful.]

Trevor, this alone could buy my services for a year.

That's- really bad bartering.

[ He laughs. ]

Just say yes. I was going to say something good when you said yes.

It's enough payment. Thank you. I'll hang them up before nightfall, unless you want the honor of installing them.

If this is enough, then whatever else I happen to make while we're here is a gift. Given freely.

[ Thank you for playing along and setting him up to say a soft thing he appreciates it. ]

[Alucard just.

He doesn't smile much. Or sustain it very long. But this time he does, because Alucard absolutely understands the meaning. And then some.

He also understands that he can repay that in kind right now. One hand reaches over, the burnt one, and settles atop Trevor's. Squeezes softly, just for a moment.]

[ It's wonderful. He doesn't twine his fingers around Alucard's, not without permission, but his smile is wide and bright. ]

It's nice, when you're like this. I like it.

[And here's the beautiful part: his hand remains.]

It is a rarity. Less so since you've arrived, in spite of the circumstances of why you're here.

[Is Sypha awake? He's really not sure.]

It should happen more often.

[ Oh no. Oh no. This is really happening. Alucard is holding onto him and not letting go and it's perfect.

He outstretches his other hand, letting it hover near Alucard's cheek. Not touching, but an invitation. ]

I want to make it happen more often.

I'd like that.

[He does lean forward for that touch though. If nothing else, it's been earned.

And Alucard has a sneaking suspicion that it's the exact moment Sypha will stir and they'll both be aflutter over her.]

[ She does. And aflutter is maybe more literal than expected in Trevor's case, because that's faster than walking.

Until he remembers that he'd rather Alucard not be on his feet, and moths back. ]

She's awake. May I carry you?

I'll walk. I find that people are more comforted by doctors being on their own two feet, even if it's on the slow side. If you could please bring me my cane though, I'd appreciate it.

[It's a few moments. A few moments for a new redness in Alucard's cheeks to die down. Which.

Is new. And different.]

Yeah, 'course.

[ He loses mass as half of him flies away to keep Sypha company, but the other half remains long enough to pick up the cane and bring it to Alucard. Then it's gone, and he's down in the quarantine area. Not as a man but as many many moths, crawling over her.

She understands it's supposed to be comforting, at least. ]

Thank you.

[It's weird, being used to a swam of moths. It's weirder walking into the quarrentine room and seeing them all over Sypha. Anyone else would panic, and it is still instinct to want to swat.

But it's Trevor. So Alucard goes about the next round of check ups for Sypha (she's regaining muscle now) and then makes her promise she'll be awake to eat when he's done cooking.

Cooking is just meat and a little bit of grain, along with bone broth and an apple chopped into bite sized pieces. It isn't fancy. It's absolutely recovery food. But Alucard makes sure that it is all plated and looks good, then asks Trevor to bring it in. Easier to carry a tray when you're not using a cane.

He stays with her a while after that. Until she sleeps again, full of food and better hydrated. She'll need another week or two, but after that she should be able to rejoin her caravan.

They have to find out how to reach them. But Alucard suspects Sypha will be the best person to figure that out, and so he'll wait to ask her about it when next she wakes.

In the mean time, Alucard retreats back to the main room of his clinic that serves as his own living room. There's a long, low cushion with a low back there, and he settles there. Pulls his feet off the floor, tucking them under himself. Looking over his shoulder for Trevor.]

[ It's much harder to tell her stories while she's awake, because she points out the parts that make no sense. How did the monster have four legs but eighteen feet, exactly? Everything else about her being awake, though? Is wonderful. She's pretty and clever and full of questions about the various treatments she's been given and how each one of them serves to help, doing her best to learn to to be able to better help others in future. She asks Trevor about her caravan and sighs with relief when he tells her that he couldn't find the plague among them.

It's almost a shame when she falls asleep again. He leaves a few moths with her to watch over her and the rest of him follows Alucard. ]

She's getting so much better.

She is.

[She's a good patient too. She asks good questions, absorbs the information, and she cares. She cares so much, and she should get back to her people as soon as she's able.

Alucard doesn't look disappointed by it. Trevor'll end up escorting her if her people are truly far away, and then it will be quiet for a time. A new patient will arrive. The healing process will begin anew.]

Tomorrow, I'll ask her how to contact her people.

If she can narrow down the area they're likely to be in, I can track them down. I just need it to be a little more specific than 'somewhere in eastern europe'.

[ A long pause. He's so glad that she's well, but that comes with different work. Work elsewhere. ]

Thank you, for all of this.

I assume they have their means of tracking their own people. She's has been terribly out of it until just recently.

[It's an unwelcome shift in topic. But needed. They both know that.]

It's been nice having you here.

I'll still be here a little while. You said she'd need another week?

[ He sits down next to Alucard. ]

One or two. It'll depend on her.

[Alucard doesn't quite inch closer. But he places his hand in the gap between them, making it clear that Trevor can take that hand if he so wishes.]

[ He takes it. ]

I'll come back, to bring you to see Eight. She'll be happy to see you again.

[That's all well and good. But there's a thinner, fragile smile on the alchemist's face now.]

I think I got used to you being here a little too quickly.

Oh.

[ He leans forward, taking Alucard's hand in both of his now. It's cautious. ]

Did I do something wrong?

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